Wednesday, September 7, 2005

We all like to jump down city staff's throats when we think they're doing something wrong (I do it myself quite frequently), but we almost never thank them when they do something right.

That's too bad, because every city hall employee I know is extremely hardworking. I can't tell you how many times I've seen city staff at after-hours or weekend neighborhood and community meetings.

So I'm taking this opportunity to thank Walter "Butch" Simmons, the head of the city's department of Engineering and Inspections, for following through on a project in our neighborhood.

The city recently bought the former VFW property in our neighborhood across from the Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market to use it for parking city vehicles. The neighborhood objected, then asked the city to meet a number of conditions because we were worried about the property's appearance.

Butch met those conditions, spending $9,000 on landscape improvements to the property, and removing at our request some railroad ties that were uglifying the place.

The city did a good job. Thanks, Butch. And thanks to Assistant City Manager Bob Morgan, who answered the neighborhood's sometimes testy questions on this issue so politely.